Knit Extravaganza!

I have no problem taking pictures of the food I cook, but for some reason, I totally have a brain fart when it comes to photographing my more craft-orientated projects. So I'm going to do a few quick posts to catch up on my current and recently completed projects. Today's post focus on the knitting, the next will focus on the sewing projects.

Project #1 - Salina Sweater from Rowan's Vintage Knits.

Pretty much the entirety of my Christmas vacation in Maine was spent working on the front portion of this sweater. I was a little iffy about the color at first - I bought it off the internet and it wassuppossedly a pale blue, but in reality is a very pale grey with a lovely rainbow tweed flecks. In any case, it will be something different in the sea of green sweaters Iam no longer allowed to buy/make.

I haven't casted on the sleeves yet, because I'm taking/took a break to work on two items I actually need/needed.  See projects #2 and #3.

 Project #2 - MK Carroll's Tillie Cloche 

  

A week before Christmas, I lost my favorite warm hat to the CTA. It was a lovely maroon crocheted bobbly thing that was purchased at a church craft fair as a Christmas gift by a family friend several years ago. But alas, it is no more. It is, however, still cold in Chicago and my windowpane-style beret, wasn't cutting it in the wind. So I needed a new hat, fast.

Thanks to the beauty that is Ravelry I was able to find an excellent cloche pattern by MK Carroll.  Thanks to the awesomeness that is Mr. Cleaver I got some lovely yarn for Christmas and pretty much instantaneously went to knitting it up. I made it through the crown and half of the brim before we even left Maine.

But the brim, oh boy, did I have trouble with that brim. Which is no one's  fault but my own.

First - I did not use any of the suggest yarns, instead I used Reynold's Lite Lopi, but I did do gauge check and adjusted accordingly. My problem was that I arbitrarily decided that after the initial decrease and increase on the brim that I would say "to hell!" with the pattern and just eyeball the length. Let us just say that this decision did not work out well and was woefully long on the first and second attempts. There was much grafting, ungrafting, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In the end however, my ears are warm and I really like the hat. It's not 100% done in the above photos. I haven't blocked it lacking a head form other than my own and I haven't added the i-cord trim, but it's cold outside and like all my projects minute finishing can wait until I've worn the thing a half dozen times.

Project #3 - Hello Yarn's Squirrel and Oak Leaf Mittens 

I lost my warm hat and a month later I had made a new one. I lost my warm gloves and it's taken me oh, eight months to replace them.

That's because the last pair of mittens I made were so disastrous that I refuse to display them here. Well, since Mr. Cleaver was getting me yarn for a hat, I batted my eyelids, looked at him with sad puppy eyes and got a few more skeins for a pair of  mittens to match the hat.

Now I still look at those two skeins of yarn in the photo above and think - surely those would be sufficently contrasting to make a pair of Norwegian-style mittens, surely! The purple is so bright and the grey is so, well, grey! However, as is evidenced in the same above photo this is clearly not the case. So my squirrel mittens are subtle.

But I'm okay with this, figuring that since this is my first colorwork pattern (which I'm really enjoying) it's okay to be subtle, since the mistakes will be less obvious. And as, one of the ladies in my knitting group said on Tuesday - they're like "Magic Eye" mittens, stare long enough and you'll see the image. And I quite like that idea.

Doughnuts, Croissants, and Diamonds

Or my Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Nothing says class like a pair of giants lips. 

Saturday morning was the second official meeting of my two-person book club, and as regular readers might recall, the book choice for this session was Truman Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Since Chicago just happens to have a Tiffany's, Kasey and I had no choice but to meet there for breakfast. Between the doughnuts here and the East of Eden sandwich at our first meeting, we're creating a trend here.

We haven't chosen our next book yet, but if we keep to trend it'll probably be something along the lines of Like Water for Chocolate or Inge's Picnic, anything we can build around food, really. What can I say? I like to read and I like to eat.

Particularly giants lips in feathered nests. 

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is one of the few book-to-film adaptations that have eclipsed the original. This is not to say the the movie is better than the book, but I think I can definitely say that it is the more famous of the two. Another example could be Brokeback Mountain. While most film adaptations feel disappointing, largely because they lack the richness of the source material, I think these two examples work well because they are adapted from short stories or novellas.

With the novel, something almost always has to get cut. With the short story/novella there is room to do the entire story justice and even to expand. 

 

Still, Tiffany's is a classy place. 

This is not to say all we did was compare the film and book, while we sat in the nearby Pottery Barn and discussed, but I'll admit, it was a good chunk of it. After breakfast and discussion, we did a little Holly Golightly inspired shopping, where I got an awesome White House/Black Market dress for about 15 bucks, after which we went back to my apartment and watched , yep, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

And I am a classy gal. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Although our apartment doesn't have the greatest view (McDonald's parking lot anyone?), we have a pretty great place in a nice building.

One the best parts? Our cadre of doormen - kindly folks who open doors when our arms are full of groceries, sign for our packages, give movie recommendations, discuss local sports, and know both my maiden and married names. I don't know who is in charge of hiring these people,  but seriously, they are awesome and deserving of the best cookies I know how to make - Ghirardelli chocolate chip.

Happy New Year! 

Because of the pre-holiday craziness and a lack of all-purpose flour, I didn't get a chance to make these in time for Christmas - so now they get to be surprise New Year's cookies.

This recipe comes from the back of the Ghirardelli chocolate chip bag and is good.

I grew up in the Bay Area so I have a special place in my taste buds for Ghirardelli chocolate, it's not the fanciest chocolate out there, but among the brands commonly found in grocery stores, I think it's the best - so take that Toll House!

Our Cast O' Characters 

Adapted from 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Yield: 4 dozen 

• 1/2 bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 bag of 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup(s) sugar
• 3/4 cup(s) package brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla
• 2 1/4 cup(s) all purpose flour (I use wheat flour for the 1/4 cup - it makes me feel a teensy bit healthier about the whole 2 sticks of butter thing)
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Although the Kitchen Aid Mixer is the traditional wedding gift in our family, Mr. Cleaver and I opted out on that one. If I don't make butter cream by hand how would I work my biceps?

Baker's Workout - Butter Cream

Add vanilla and eggs to the butter cream. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt, mix well. Add the flour mixture to the butter cream. This cookie dough is VERY dry, so this also takes a little oomph - more calories burned for me! (See new year's working out is easy!).

After the dough is mixed well add in the chocolate chips. Jewel had a buy one-get-one-free offer of chocolate chips, so I used two different kind here: semi- and bittersweet, but it works fine with just one.

Maybe one the most wonderful sights in baking. 

The finished dough on the way to my mouth.  My mother always said that the sugar counteracts the egg, so you can't get salmonella, I chose to believe her.

Pretty Maids all in a row. 

I've found the cooking time on these varies wildly from oven to oven - until I moved into my current apartment it always took around 12, but now it takes eight.  So watch the first batch carefully.

I like my cookies on the larger side - who doesn't - but I usually end up with fewer than the four dozen the recipe indicates, in tonight's case - it was 39. 

Err, 38. Quality control. 

Peppermint Ice Cream

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the advent of peppermint ice cream, but now since I own an

 ice cream maker

 - I thought I'd give a shot at making my own this year. I meant to post this recipe before Christmas, but I left for Maine and didn't bring the recipe with me. So now it can serve as a way to use all those leftover candy canes! 

Peppermint Ice Cream

4-6 candy canes depending on how minty you like it

slightly less than 1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon  lemon juice

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Crush candy canes until broken into fairly small bits (see photo). Combine half of the candy cane crumbles with the remainder of the ingredients and mix well.  Put the mixture in the the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours up to leaving it overnight - this will allow the candy cane to dissolve into the mixture and I've found that it gives the ice cream a better consistency when you churn it.

After chilling the mixture, stir well and pour mixture into ice cream maker, making sure to scrape all the sugar and remaining bits of candy cane out. After the machine has been churning for about 15 minutes, add the remaining half of the candy cane, which will end up as crunchy bits in the finished product - if you're not a fan of crunchy things in your cream,  add all the candy cane at the beginning. Churn the ice cream until desired consistency, mine ice cream maker usually takes a total of 45 minutes. Pour the ice cream into a container and put into the freezer until solid and enjoy - goes especially well with chocolate! 

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas to all my friends, family and people in blog-land!

I'll send you off with my two favorite Christmas decorations to say Merry Christmas to both the religious out there (because nothing says "Happy Birthday Jesus" like Joseph Heller and the Phantom Tollbooth):

And the non (because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like Santa skiing on top of our TV)

Happy Holidays!

My Three Minutes and 16 seconds of Fame

The knitting video is up on metromix. Go to the video player on the side and scroll down to "Stitch & Bitch @ Kopi - a Traveler's Cafe." I do a lot of hand waving and get a few sounds bites in there too.

On a side note: is my voice really that low? It always surprises me to heard my voice on tape - egads!

Side note number two: I have tons of stuff to post, but I'll be leaving for Maine this afternoon, so it'll have to wait until after my 16 hour road trip!

I'm Ready For My Closeup Mr. DeVille

On a cold winter's Tuesday three weeks ago, my knitting circle was visited by a TV crew and so, unless left on the cutting room floor, I will be making my local TV debut this Monday! I'll post more about the experience after the video goes up and we'll see if I am horribly embarrassed or super famous! An email from the Metromix reporter, who was knitting a lovely scarf:

"From Jackie (the Metromix chick):

Hi!

Just wanted to let you know that the Stitch N' Bitch segment will be airing on Monday at 7, 8, 9 and midnight.  It gets posted online at cltv.com/metromix after about 9:00 the night it runs.  Please pass this info along to the gals and thank them for all their help!

Best, Jackie"

PS: I get a lot of search hits on the title of this post - it's a line from end of Sunset Boulevard, by the character Norma Desmond. A great film that I highly recommend you watch.

Blue-Rimmed Plate Special

Meatloaf has a bad rap.

It is, for sure, a loaf of meat - something that doesn't quite sit well with our well-intentioned ideas of better modern eating (any reality aside). And like cheese balls and Jell-O molds, meatloaf has that aura of 1950's food that's trying a little too hard.

Of course, this being the Ms. Cleaver Chronicles, I'd be somewhat amiss if I didn't proclaim love for the meatloaf. I like meatloaf so much, it's what I ate on my second-first date with Mr. Cleaver. I can only think of one other person who truly appreciates this dish as much as I do (hi Winnie!). But if you haven't eaten meatloaf recently, you really should because it is tasty. And with a few minor modifications, better for you than a hamburger.

A few years ago, I decided to jettison beef from my diet, except for "when it really mattered," meaning I like a good steak every now and again, but by and large ground beef almost never makes it into my kitchen. And really, I don't miss it - most of the things I formerly made with hamburger (or hamburg as Mr. Cleaver says) like tacos, chili and this dish, have enough seasoning that it doesn't make much difference when I use ground turkey meat instead and I feel a little better about eating it. I do what I can.

And so, like the Chili I posted earlier this week, I make my meatloaf with turkey, but feel free to use beef if you want.

Mmm-mm Meatloaf : (Serves 3)

1- 1½lbs ground turkey meat (or beef)

½ onion, finely diced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp thyme

½ sleeve of butter crackers (ie Townhouse or Ritz - not Saltines)

2/3 cup of ketchup

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350°F.  If desired, lightly grease a loaf pan.

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl using a sturdy spoon or your hands. transfer to pan and make into a "loaf "shape.  [Note: To really make a good sized, loaf you'd probably need at least 2 lbs of meat, but I'm only cooking for two here.]

Put in oven and cook for 45 min-  1 hour or until internal temperature reaches 160°F on a meat thermometer.

Touristy Time at Home

In sticking with a long personal tradition of being attacked by dinosaur skeletons. Mr. Cleaver and I made a visit to Sue at Chicago's Field Museum on Saturday.

Sometime in the Early 90's

August, 2005

Saturday, 2007

Mr. Cleaver is more concerned really...

I have no shame, really, about being touristy in the place I live. Particularly when the library hands out free museum passes to those lucky enough to snag them (we've managed four: MCA, Art Institute, Adler and Field, in a little over a year). This might come from having lived predominately in touristy Meccas (Napa, Chicago, not to mention "Vacationland").  I also believe there is a reason people come to see these things.

Now I have no plans to go to the top of the Sears Tower, so I do have a little shame about these things, but what shame I had didn't stop me from also visiting the Billy Goat Tavern this weekend, which was totally worth it.

Waffling and Breakfast

When I was a kid, the number-one thing I remember most about cereal commericals isn't the cartoon characters or copious amount of sugar, but the phrase and image of "part of a complete breakfast."

As I recall, a complete breakfast included: a bowl of the advertised cereal, a glass of milk, a glass of orange juice, a grapefruit, two eggs sunny side up, some sausage or bacon, toast, waffles, hashbrowns and the soles of old shoes. In all seriousness though, there was an awful lot of food in those shots and I don't know anybody outside of a Sunday brunch line who eats that much for breakfast.

Like most people, when I eat cereal, all I eat is cereal, maybe -maybe- with some juice. Unlike most people, I never put milk on my cereal unless it's grape nuts (because you have to) or rice krispies (because they snap, crackle, pop!). I hate soggy cereal, so I just drink my milk on the side. How very When Harry Met Sally of me.

All of this is so say, after much waffling (or not bothering) Kasey and I decided on the next selection for our two-person book club: Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. I know I said I wanted to do something wintery , but with all the Holiday hubbub something short and frothier seemed more appropo, so Mark Halprin's 768 page Winter's Tale will have to wait until January.We might finish before Christmas, we might not (we mightn't have bothered to picked a date yet), but you can bet when we finish we'll be meeting outside the local Tiffany's, Duncan Donuts in hand.